Dave Nelson, sports phenom — Part 1
*At times during my conversation with Dave Nelson, I caught his wry sense of humor and playful witticisms. My tape recording revealed a bit more of that, so enjoy his turn of the phrase.
It was a Saturday evening in November of 1956, and my family was loading up for an evening trip to the LA Memorial Coliseum for the big “show-down.” Our hometown Downey High School Vikings were taking on the Anaheim Colonists. The winner would be crowned Southern California football champion. Anaheim had Mickey Flynn; we had Randy Meadows. Both were scatbacks; quick and explosive. It was a fabled era , when we were always on the winning side. The game ended in a 13-13 tie.
Dave Nelson, esteemed retired Superior Court Judge locally, was part of one of those periods in Rochester, Minnesota at John Marshall HS. Here’s the program from when Nelson was inducted into the Rochester Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.
Here Judge Nelson describes that story-book era: “I was a running quarterback and managed the field as well. It was a Wing-tee, with the QB behind the center; 2 backs and a slot back. My identity was ‘athlete,’ as I practiced all the time, but I also had good grades and was involved in a lot of extra curricular activities (student council president and stuff).” JM had 1600 students in Rochester, located 1.5 hours SE of Twin Cities, Minn.
Dave continues: “My dad was the principal of the elementary school I went to. He was Danish and mom had German roots. I was recruited out of college for football, but didn’t want to go to a big ten school, because they were too much like football factories. I had a built in prejudice against the east (Harvard and Yale), so a friend told me about Stanford. He ended up at UC Berkeley. I went to Stanford as a football player.” I think my stats in track impressed them (21’9” in the long jump, second in the state in the 180 hurdles).”
“It was sleeting and snowing in Minnesota
when I left for college. I arrived in San Francisco, where Assistant Coach Mike White picked me up and I awoke the next morning on the Stanford campus.
It was a beautiful day, with women in short skirts. The first year, I started at QB for the Stanford Freshmen.
“John Ralston was head coach (Utah St, Stanford, Denver Broncos), that assembled an amazing group of coaches. He was (somewhat of a buffoon who treated people like slogans); later unpopular with that style coaching in the pros).”
“Tough guy, high energy, macho, Mike White ( later Cal, U. Illinois, Raiders head coach) was the assistant.”
“Coach Bill Walsh (legendary Stanford; then 49er coach) came my sophomore year. Walsh coached the defensive backs, and we ran a simple 3 man zone; I was the safety. Walsh was sort
of detached, (not in the trenches like Mike White), but he knew how to get the most out of us.”
“As a sophomore for the varsity, Coach Dick Vermiel (later head coach with the NFL Philadephia Eagles, St. Louis Rams, KC Chiefs) said, ‘ Not Quarterback;’ We’ll try you at safety.’”
“Each year, ‘ The big game’ with Cal was the highlight. In my junior year, I intercepted a pass, and recovered a fumble, so I was the star of that big game. I intercepted 5 passes and was All- Conference Honorable Mention in the Pacific Coast Conference (now, Pac 12) in the fall, 1967. So, my trajectory was on the rise, but, in the first quarter of the first game the next year, I broke my collar bone against the Oregon State Beavers up there in the rain. So, I suffered through rehab for weeks, until the “big game” against Cal.
Then this guy named
Wayne Stewart, 6’ 7” tight end for Cal (later the NY Jets) caught a pass over me; I was the opposite of the star. Rehabbing my injury allowed me to more fully participate in college life. I was a sponsor in the dorm and found it liberating not to be a football star.”
“Stanford football was just getting Black guys. John Guillory played next to me in the defensive backfield, also Bill Ruben, who I competed with for safety. He was a speedster who transferred down from Cal; and also Al Wilburn. I didn’t realize it but Stanford was up against some racial barriers when we went down to play Tulane in Louisiana. Apparently the hotel we stayed at in the mid- 60’s in New Orleans didn’t allow Blacks, but the staff negotiated something.”
“As the number of Blacks increased on the field, a distinguished professor brought some guys
from the Stanford Black Alliance together, including Gene Washington, who was a moderate person by nature with a bunch of White guys. She was like an encounter group expert. It just didn’t work out.”
“Washington was the QB and Mark Marquess, who I was competing with at safety was moved to cornerback and wideout. Marquess was also a first baseman; then became the Stanford Cardinal head baseball coach from 19772017. (40 years). Jim Plunkett, the NFL QB (16 years, two Super Bowl wins with the Raiders) red-shirted when I was a senior, so he had 3 years remaining to team up with Gene Washington in an amazing pitch and catch combination. They really built a classy outfit.”
“It’s a sensitive subject to recruit jocks at Stanford. It isn’t as big a deal at University of Minnesota or University of Illinois. But, there are definitely looser standards among the football players. It wasn’t so competitive to get into Stanford in the 1960’s, but they are trying to create a diverse community there by using some discretion in recruitment. I support ethnic diversity, but wealth diversity is more difficult to support.”
Next week: Part 2 with Dave Nelson Please send comments to youngrey@comcast.net.